My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 2

Continuing my posts about my Dungeon Master binder, I'll start with the first section: "Combat." The section could just as easily be labeled "Rules," but, for me, it's the combat stuff I need to have at the ready.

Let's take a tour of my Combat section...

Page 1: Badass Conan art by Travis Charest 

Page 2: One of my favorite D&D art pics - Thor by Jim Rosolof from the 1e AD&D Deities & Demigods.

Next, I have my critical hit and miss tables, namely “Great Hits & Terrible Misses” from Crusader Journal #7 by Jeffrey P. Talanian (who now has his own excellent RPG, Hyperborea). While made for C&C, they would work fine with any D&D-style system.

Then I have my cheat sheets. This includes homemade sheets that I made using Marq (Canva would also work well). Obviously, good ol' Word or Google Docs would probably be fine, but Marq made it easier to rearrange tables, etc. 

I also have the official Castles & Crusades table sheets that came with the Reforged Kickstarter.

Then, to cap it off, I have pages from the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper Screen. Most systems have printable versions of their GM screens on DriveThruRPG, so those are a great source of pages like this. 

Next post, I'll go over my NPC section.  Stay tuned!

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 1

It's been a while. Time to come back out of the shadows for a it. 

Let's chat about a quintessential part of the DM's toolbox - the Dungeon Master binder. For other DM kit stuff, see my other posts about my Dungeon Tool Kit. I said that Part 6 was the final... but I lied.

If you don't get this reference, we can't be friends.

Now, if you're one of my eight fans out there, you might be saying, "Wait, Double D, didn't you already write about a DM notebook (Rocketbook)?"  And I would say, "Nay, my dear plebeian. That notebook serves a different function: namely prep notes and in-game notes." A DM binder is a storehouse of useful materials meant for use at the table.

I can't believe I found an image that explains that there are different types of tables.

After a lot of trial and error, I've whittled my binder's contents down to four key sections.

1. Combat:  Handy rule reference sheets, mainly for combat.
2. NPCs:  NPC resources, such as summaries of frequently encountered NPCs and tables for working up NPCs on the fly.
3. Encounters:  Random encounter tables, short encounter write-ups, and ready to go monster stats.
4. Treasure - Treasure tables for cool loot and such. These are things you don't find in your Game Master guide of choice.

I will detail what I have in each of these sections in upcoming posts. To start, I'm going to focus on the actual physical binder that I use.

So let's get into it.

My current binder of choice is this expandable binder. I'm assuming that a lot of my fellow gamers are office supply nerds like me (and if I'm wrong, don't shatter my dreams). As such, you'll appreciate this.

Here is the pre-nerdified Amazon photo.

Here is the post nerdified version in action.

Quick note: I found the cool "Hack n' Slash" graphic from Reddit and it was made by CastleGrief. This dude needs to start making shirts and stickers.

Okay. So why this binder? Well, because it's expandable. I apparently have a thing for things that grow in size. It isn't overly bulky like a traditional hardback binder, but isn't limp like a soft binder (insert joke about DD liking it hard here).

Other things that I find useful:

Clear sheet protectors.

• Print out all the good stuff you have from DriveThruRPG and put it in your binder.

Tabs/Page Markers

• Get to your good stuff fast.  Also handy for your hardcopy RPG books.

Binder Hole Reinforcers

• Sounds like something dirty.
• Not a big fan of plastic? Use these for your printouts.

Cheap 3-Hole Puncher

• Punch them holes, bitch.

More to come!

Resources for Converting D&D to Castles & Crusades (Repost)

 

Convert or else!

UPDATED on March 2, 2025 to fix the links! (Updated from the 4/12/2012 post)

I've noticed that people come across my blog a lot while searching for help for converting Dungeons & Dragons to Castles & Crusades. Here are a few great resources for converting D&D to C&C (whether it's Basic, 1e, 2e, 3e, 3.53, and not sure about 4e).

Troll Lord Games, the makers of C&C, have an official guide for converting from 5e: 

• Slaying the Dragon: A Conversion Guide

The Other Side blog has a few posts about it:

• Converting D&D 5 to Castles & Crusades: Character Conversion

Duke Omote's Advanced Castles & Crusades Page - This page has all kind of rules expansions that incorporate rules from various D&D editions into C&C.  For example, Omote has rules for Skills and Talents (a.k.a. Feats) that might make converting PCs easier. If you are looking to convert older D&D to C&C, he has rules for Racial Classes and more.

The Crusader's Companion -  Peter J. Schroeder compiled a ton of great gamer-created C&C rules into this impressive tome and it is just awesome. It includes a lot of d20 SRD monsters, items, spells, etc. that aren't in the C&C core rules. Also, the Castle Keepering chapter has a Conversion section that provides tables and charts to help you convert D&D materials from other editions into C&C (as well as Pathfinder).

The Castle Keepers Guide - While it doesn't deal with conversion specifically, it does include rules for Skills and Advantages (aka Feats) that might make converting 3.0 or 3.5 D&D to C&C easier.

Free Compact Character Sheet & Template

I worked up some small character sheets for Castles & Crusades.  However, I created a template you can modify in Canva for any system:

• Compare Character Sheet Template

I plan to use these as CK (DM/GM/judge) "cheat" sheets of the players' PCs, but they could also be used for NPCs.  I made two versions: one that uses the new "reforged" term of "Disposition" term, and one that uses the older "Alignment" term.

Download here: link

Download here: link

Great Free D&D Resource - d12 Monthly Magazine

Just a quick and dirty post here. Here is a great free resource for D&Ders (particularly for OSR fans, but useful for all):  

d12 Monthly by YUMDM

Each issue focuses on a particular topic (e.g., dungeon exploration, city exploration, undead, hills & mountain encounters, etc.).

The older issues are 100% free. For the newer issues, if you pay or join his Patreon, you get more articles per issue. You can get the paid ones at DriveThruRPG, too, if that works better.  Even still, it is a LOT of free content.

Me? Sticking with the free ones 'cause I'm cheap.

The Redcaps Podcast has a good episode with the creator, Russ: YUMDM & d12 Monthly.

A Free Google Sites Template for Your Campaign

A few years back I used a site called Epic Words for my first Castles & Crusades campaign. It was a free service (with paid levels) that let you organize your
campaign with wikis, maps, share resources, set up forums, track XP, etc. It was great. Sadly, it no longer exists.  

Today, there are a ton of options out there: World Anvil, Obsidian, Legend Keeper, Notion, Kanka, and more.  These sites are simply too much for me. They do more than I want. So I played around and found Google Sites and re-created my own version of Epic Words.

My Campaign Site Template

Here is a preview of the published template: click me. 

• It should be pretty easy to customize as you see fit. 
• I used public domain art that can be replaced with whatever you like.  
• You can also see screenshots of my own site below.
• See below for directions on how to copy and use the template (it's not hard).

DM fuel.

How to Copy and Use My Template

Step 1: Pour yourself a glass of Tin Cup Whiskey.

Step 2: Drink said whiskey in parallel to the steps below.

Step 3. Create a new Google Drive folder to store your site files.

Step 4: Go to my Google Docs shared folder: Double D's Google Drive

Step 5: Right-click on the template file and "Make a copy" of it.

List view.

You might see thumbnails, depending on your settings.

Step 6. That will place a copy of the template file... 

• "Copy of DungeoneeringDadsCampaignTemplate" 

...at the top level of your Drive. Copy/move that file into your new Drive folder.

Step 7. In order to get the supporting Google Drive structure, head back to my Google Drive, right-click on the ZIP file and download it. (This will give you the subfolders you need, so ignore everything else in the folder.)

Step 8: Unzip the downloaded ZIP file, which will give you the folders and sheets.

Step 9: Upload the entire extracted folders into your Drive folder.

Step. 9: In your Drive folder, click on the template file and edit away! 

Edit away!

It's probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with Google Sites. Here is one of the many tutorials on YouTube: Google Sites Tutorial for Complete Beginners 2024

The Party Rooster and XP Tracker pages point to Google Sheets, and I included copies of those. Adjust them as needed for your game.

Some nice features of Google Sites:

• You can connect it to Google Drive (in a lot of ways, it's basically a "front end" to Google Drive).
• You can lock down permissions to restrict access to files to just your players.
• You can customize it as you see fit.
• Easy to work with and tweak and overall nerd out with.

There is one thing I could not easily replicate: a forum. I tried a few different things and settled on embedding a Padlet board (also a free option). If I did it right, those boards are embedded in the template above. If not, you can see how to embedd them here: How to Embed a Padlet Wall  My group uses these boards for XP Awards and Party Chatter.

If someone else knows a good way to embed a forum, please share!

Screenshots of my Castles & Crusades Site

Exhilarating homepage!

XP ... for glory!

Our "heroes."

The party forum (i.e., dick jokes).

Rewards for both exceptional and exceptionally stupid play.

A page to gather the feel and vibe of the campaign.

Gaming stuff.

The rules of the house!

You are here.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 6 - Portable RPG Storage Carrier!

Well, here we are - the final post in my Dungeon Master Kit series! (Other posts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.)  This will one will focus on how I cart around my materials. Obviously, there is the good ol' backpack, but, again, I'm a Grade A Nerd and need MORE.  

There are lot of cool deluxe bags these days, but they're are pricey. "Cases"  in point (get it?): example 1, example 2, example 3, and example 4.

Since I couldn't find a bag my speed and in my price range, I went with something else: the Quik Cart.  Sure, it's a "seen on Shark Tank" product, but it is handy. Plenty of room for my loot.

Here it is in action. As you can see, I can fit a good big of materials. 

I bought both the Regular and the Sport model, and kept the Sport one. The other one was too big. Here's a comparison, with a voiceover by my lovely wife.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 5 - Map Case

All righty, a quick and dirty post (just how your mom likes it) for my Dungeon Master Kit series (part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4).  Warning: copious phallic jokes within.

I'm running a Castles & Crusades sandbox game in the Haunted Highlands.  I love having a big physical map for the players and me to gaze at.  There is something frickin' cool about a good fantasy map. 

It's a Haunted Highlands hex map made by Darlene, who did the original Greyhawk map.  I bought the PDF from the Troll Lords site and had it printed at Staples.  (It doesn't seem they have it available at their updated storefront.) Since I can reprint it, I have no problem with us writing on it and making it our own.

What I present.

What my players see.

Well, it's kind of a pain to cart around without getting mangled, so being the top-grade nerd that I am, I bought a map case for it from Amazon. It was cheap and has been indeed handy. It's expandable too, which is nice.

Ribbed for your pleasure.

It's a grower, not a shower.

Impressive length.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 4 - Affordable-ish Tablet for RPG PDFs

Finally, the Dungeoneering Dad has come back to his Dungeon Master Kit series (part 1, part 2, and part 3). 

Why PDFs?

As much as I love the usefulness, lack of eye strain, and, dare I say it, the beauty of hard copy books, I've found myself using PDF copies of RPGs more and more. They take up less space (duh), support smaller publishers, and are typically cheaper.  As of now, I have an online library of 693 items at DriveThruRPG (...not gonna lie, that's a bit embarrassing). 

An actual gamer using a tablet in sheer ecstasy. 

Why a Tablet?

• less to cart around
• access to a large library of PDFs
• can search books electronically
• feel like you're from the future

Why a Fire Tablet?

Rich Corinthian leather case.

Look, straight up, if you can afford an iPad, the Fire tablet can't compete. However, if you're budget-minded, I recommend the Fire. (It was known as the "Kindle Fire," but they seem to have dropped the "Kindle" part.) As I've mentioned a few times in ages past (linky link and linky link), I use a Fire for my RPG PDFs. 

Nice things about the Fire:

• Cheap-ish. Amazon puts them on sale multiple times a year (holidays, Prime Day, etc.).
• Expandable storage with an SD Card.
• From my understanding, you need an adapter to use an SD Card with an iPad.
• With a Fire (and other Android tablets), you just pop the card in.
• Spiffy cases: link 

How to Add PDFs "Officially."

PDF readers aplenty.

Since a Fire isn't a normal tablet, there are a few easy ways to add files for use with the official Kindle app.

1. Use the "Send to Kindle" website to upload them: link

• You'll need to use this particularly if the PDF files are large.

2. Email the PDF. 

• Each Amazon account has a "send-to-Kindle" email address (e.g., "Best_DM_Ever@kindle.com").
• Simply email the PDF as an attachment to that address and it will show up in your Kindle app library before too long.

3. Connect your Fire to your PC and transfer them that way.

4. Get an SD Card, put that into your PC, load up the card, and then pop that into your Fire.

If you want more detailed info on these methods, this site is pretty useful: WikiHow: How to Add a PDF to a Kindle.

How to Make Your Fire More Useful and Super-Duper Cool!

My DriveThruRPG library... behold and tremble.

Since a Fire isn't a typical Android tablet, you can't typically use it like a normal tablet. However, you can pretty easily side-load the Google Play Store and then, bingo, you can install a lot more apps including, the DriveThruRPG Library app, a variety of PDF readers, etc.

• Here is a great "How to Geek" article detailing how to get the Google Play Store: link
• Here is a kind of spiffy PDF reader: EBookDroid

Once you do that, you can use a variety of nice apps to organize your library, although I'm starting to use the DriveThruRPG Library app itself more and more. If you used the SD Card method above, you can access the PDFs via a variety of PDF readers.

There you go. Bingo bango.